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25 May 2021 - IOM’s African Capacity Building Centre (ACBC) launched its first webinar programme for African member states on Africa Day 2021. The programme, which aims at enhancing African states capacities to better manage migration, brings together representatives from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Togo and the United Republic of Tanzania.

Representatives from various ministries, African Regional Economic Communities (RECs), border officials, and other relevant entities participating in the programme are given the opportunity to both strengthen their knowledge on migration management and share expertise and experience on the latter. The topics covered throughout the programme will provide an opportunity for each country to openly discuss the challenges they face, as well as identify potential avenues for cooperation in managing human mobility and meeting the challenges that come with it.

Aissata Kane, IOM Senior Advisor for Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighted the importance of the programme for the participating Member States, including IOM, encouraging them “to demonstrate strategy and innovation in implementing the plan of action of governments by optimizing the resources available to provide concrete, qualitative and quantitative solutions to the challenges faced”.

The IOM International Migration Law Unit (IML) based in Geneva (Switzerland) initiated the 2021 programme with a session on the Human Rights of Migrants to promote understanding of the contemporary and growing importance of the human rights of migrants as anchored in international migration law, at the foundation of the Global Compact for Migration and the regional frameworks in Africa. The topic served to set the stage for a better understanding of the other thematic areas that will be covered throughout the year and also to raise awareness on the opportunities presented by migration in terms of potential economic gains and development.

COVID-19 has placed tremendous strain on the economies and migration management structures of most countries, and migrants and their human rights have been distinctively impacted by these changes, including here in Africa. This webinar offers an opportunity to take stock and reflect on the experience thus far and to discuss what lessons may be learned”, Jonathan Martens, IOM ACBC’s Manager and Senior Trainer said.

The ACBC has been working alongside IOM's African Member States since 2009 to support them in their efforts to build the technical and operational capacity of border officials through training and infrastructure assessments.

Melissa Tui, IOM ACBC’s Project and Curriculum Development Officer, invited participants to identify topics they want to build expertise in and to express their interest in training of trainers’ activities. She recalled one of the expected outputs of the programme which is to create a pool of experts on a range of topics so that they can contribute their experience to the Centre's capacity building, research and development, and advocacy and partnership activities.

More than 7,500 specialists have benefited from the Centre's support, and approximately 50 of them are certified to conduct cascade training on specific topics at the national level or in other countries across the continent.

For more information, please contact:

Jonathan Martens          IOM ACBC Manager and Senior Trainer                jmartens@iom.int

Melissa Tui         IOM ACBC Project and Curriculum Development Officer               mtui@iom.int